Richard Cobden. Marshall
Wood. 1867. About ten foot or three metres high, bronze, with a
polished granite pedestal (see Wyke 125). St Anne's Square,
Manchester. Photographs, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use
these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational
purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your
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Cobden was much admired in
radical Manchester, which had long been in the habit of celebrating
its heroes with public statuary (see Read 121). The unveiling of the
statue was a grand affair, reported in the Times as having attracted crowds of people who
packed the square "densely" — others crowded at the windows and
even stood on the tops of buildings overlooking the square. From this
account we learn that so much money had been subscribed for the
monument that enough was left to fund a chair in political science at
the Owen's
College, and to provide prizes for teachers and pupil-teachers
(6). Although Gladstone
was unable to be present himself, the ceremony was performed by the
popular Liberal politician George Wilson, former chairman of the
Reform League, who did full justice to Cobden in his speech (see Wyke
126).

The Times further reported that the
statue itself was Marshall Wood's first portrait (as against ideal)
sculpture, and that it was an "exceedingly fine, clear, massive
bronze." Cobden, it explained, was meant to be addressing the House
of Commons in "an argumentative rather than a declamatory position."
The resultant likeness was "pronounced to be exceedingly good"
(6).

Sources

"The Cobden Statue at Manchester." The Times. 23 April 1967: 6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 13 February
2013.